Ingham v. John B. Honor Co.
| Decision Date | 16 January 1905 |
| Docket Number | 15,264 |
| Citation | 37 So. 963,113 La. 1040 |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
| Parties | INGHAM v. JOHN B. HONOR CO., Limited |
Appeal from Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans; Thomas C. W Ellis, Judge.
Action by Charles T. Ingham against the John B. Honor Company Limited. Judgment for plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Saunders & Gurley, for appellant.
Oliver B. & Samuel Sansum, for appellee.
Plaintiff claims damages of defendant in the sum of $ 10,000.
He recovered judgment for $ 1,000 in the district court. Defendant appeals.
Plaintiff had been engaged in the work of a longshoreman for many years. The defendants are stevedores.
The steamship Garrick was loading a cargo of coffee. Six of the gang of workmen usually employed for such work -- they were longshoremen -- were employed by the foreman of the defendant. They commenced by erecting a necessary stage leading to and from the hatch of the ship to the wharf. This stage rested upon two trestles. It (the stage) was about 4 feet in width. The two trestles, or land supports of the stage, were at a distance one from the other of about 12 feet.
The two trestles were connected by a board measuring about 2 inches thick by 6 inches in width. It was this board that broke. Planks had been laid from one trestle to the other, and in consequence of the break the staging fell a distance of about 12 feet. The plaintiff was on this stage, at work in unloading the coffee, when it fell, and in his fall with it he received a broken arm. The planks and other materials with which this stage was constructed belonged to defendants, and were owned by them, to be used in constructing such stages. There were no others from which to select. The front piece of pine which connected the uprights was rendered defective by a knot at which it broke. The stage was erected and completely rigged by the six men, before mentioned, about an hour before plaintiff was employed and put to work in unloading the coffee.
Defendants state that the port's custom prevents the stevedores from employing others than members of the Longshoremen's Association, unless they are all engaged, which is practically never the case, and that, being thus handicapped the stevedore is not a free agent in the selection of his men. It follows that generally he may employ as many as he chooses from the association, but very seldom he is at liberty to employ other labor.
To unload the ship, the foreman employed six workmen to rig the ship to be unloaded, and then other workmen were employed, and the unloading was proceeded with. The plaintiff was called in and employed after the rigging, as before mentioned. He was of the second gang of workmen employed.
We assume that, while this rigging was going on, the plaintiff, who was seated near, was on the watch for work.
The foregoing facts give rise to the following question for decision: Whether defendants were careful or downright negligent, and whether the danger was apparent, are the questions which arise out of the foregoing state of facts.
As relates to care, it should have been more particularly exercised at the beginning of the work of erecting the stage, and in selecting pieces of lumber for crosspieces sufficiently sound and strong to hold up the board resting thereon.
One of these principal pieces was rather small. Besides, it was weakened very much by a knot, at which it broke and fell. This was so evident that it has given rise to the question whether it was not sufficiently apparent to have it considered an apparent danger, which the workman should have seen and avoided, by notifying the master or leaving the employment. While it is not an apparent danger requiring such an action on the part of the workmen, it is manifestly poor, weak, and insufficient staging.
Immediately after it had been erected, the foreman, who was not present at the time the rigging was done, stepped on this stage and walked heavily and stamped, and said, in substance, that it was not strong...
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